December 20
December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56). Contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances 5 External links Events 69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. 217 – The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity. 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade. 1334 – Pope Benedict XII is elected. 1522 – Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta. 1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. 1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins. 1832 – HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands 1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States. 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli. 1916 – World War I: The battle of Verdun results in a French victory after more than 9 months of intense fightings. 1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded. 1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison 1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China. 1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India. 1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City. 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs. 1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87. 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. 1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight. 1959 – Unknown attackers murder the Walker family in Osprey, Florida. 1960 – The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed. 1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 155 mph on their New York Division, also present day Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. 1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California. 1971 – The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France. 1973 – The Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid. 1977 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations. 1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines. 1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day. 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official). 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna, Austria. 1989 – United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft. 1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina. 1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia. 1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 159. 1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal. 2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history. 2005 – Aleksandër Moisiu University was founded in Durrës, Albania. 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days. 2007 – The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art. 2013 – China successfully launches the Bolivian Túpac Katari 1 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Births 1494 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555) 1537 – John III of Sweden (d. 1592) 1626 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German scholar and politician (d. 1692) 1641 – Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist, geologist, and physician (d. 1724) 1717 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French politician and diplomat, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1787) 1740 – Arthur Lee, American physician and diplomat (d. 1792) 1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853) 1792 – Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, French painter and educator (d. 1845) 1833 – Samuel Mudd, American physician (d. 1883) 1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian, author, and educator (d. 1926) 1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932) 1860 – Dan Leno, English actor (d. 1904) 1861 – Ferdinand Bonn, German actor (d. 1933) 1861 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926) 1865 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress and interior decorator (d. 1950) 1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (d. 1938) 1869 – Charley Grapewin, American actor and singer (d. 1956) 1873 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian, author, and academic (d. 1948) 1873 – Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, academic, and politician (d. 1936) 1881 – Branch Rickey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965) 1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player and businessman (d. 1974) 1888 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (d. 1980) 1888 – Fred Merkle, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958) 1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French actress and singer (d. 1958) 1890 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967) 1891 – Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1971) 1894 – Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978) 1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, 156th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973) 1898 – Irene Dunne, American actress and singer (d. 1990) 1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic, invented the Van de Graaff generator (d. 1967) 1902 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (d. 1942) 1902 – Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (d. 1989) 1904 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1984) 1904 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian author (d. 1977) 1905 – Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1992) 1907 – Paul Francis Webster, American soldier and songwriter (d. 1984) 1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer (d. 1994) 1909 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian journalist and politician (d. 2000) 1911 – Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009) 1914 – Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (d. 2013) 1915 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish author and poet (d. 1995) 1916 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian union leader and activist (d. 2010) 1917 – David Bohm, American-English physicist, neuropsychologist, and philosopher (d. 1992) 1917 – Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (d. 1997) 1917 – Audrey Totter, American actress (d. 2013) 1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician, 43rd Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1988) 1922 – George Roy Hill, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1922 – Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter 1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1980) 1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007) 1926 – Geoffrey Howe, Welsh lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2015) 1926 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Economics (d. 2009) 1927 – Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark, English engineer and politician (d. 2016) 1927 – Charlie Callas, American actor and drummer (d. 2011) 1927 – Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (d. 2016) 1927 – Kim Young-sam, South Korean soldier and politician, 7th President of South Korea (d. 2015) 1931 – Mala Powers, American actress (d. 2007) 1932 – John Hillerman, American actor 1933 – Jean Carnahan, American author and politician 1933 – Olavi Salonen, Finnish runner 1933 – Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist 1935 – Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster 1938 – John Harbison, American composer and academic 1939 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (d. 2012) 1940 – Pat Chapman, English chef and author, founded The Curry Club 1941 – Tommy Cole, American actor, singer, and makeup artist 1942 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (d. 2015) 1942 – Bob Hayes, American sprinter and football player (d. 2002) 1942 – Michael P. Johnson, American sociologist 1942 – Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist 1944 – Bobby Colomby, American drummer and producer (Blood, Sweat & Tears) 1945 – Peter Criss, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer (Kiss, Wicked Lester, and Chelsea) 1945 – Sivakant Tiwari, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and author (d. 2010) 1946 – Uri Geller, Israeli-English magician and psychic 1946 – Lesley Judd, English dancer and television host 1946 – Lloyd Mumphord, American football player 1946 – Sonny Perdue, American captain and politician, 81st Governor of Georgia 1946 – Dick Wolf, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Law & Order 1947 – Roger Alton, English journalist 1947 – Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer-songwriter 1947 – Bo Ryan, American basketball player and coach 1947 – Stevie Wright, English-Australian singer-songwriter (The Easybeats) (d. 2015) 1948 – Alan Parsons, English keyboard player and producer (The Alan Parsons Project) 1948 – Carol Smart, English sociologist and academic 1948 – Mitsuko Uchida, Japanese-British pianist 1949 – Soumaïla Cissé, Malian engineer and politician 1949 – Cecil Cooper, American baseball player and manager 1949 – Oscar Gamble, American baseball player 1949 – Leigh Hamilton, New Zealand-American actress and art dealer (d. 2012) 1950 – Geoffrey Grimmett, English mathematician and academic 1950 – Arturo Márquez, Mexican-American composer 1951 – Lynne Featherstone, English blogger and politician 1951 – Christopher Le Brun, English painter and sculptor 1951 – Peter May, Scottish author and screenwriter 1951 – Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, Northern Irish police officer, scholar, and academic 1951 – Marta Russell, American author and activist (d. 2013) 1952 – Jenny Agutter, English actress 1954 – Michael Badalucco, American actor and producer 1954 – Sandra Cisneros, American author and poet 1955 – David Breashears, American mountaineer, director, and producer 1955 – Ed Kuepper, German-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Saints, Laughing Clowns, and The Apartments) 1955 – Rory Markas, American sportscaster (d. 2010) 1955 – Binali Yıldırım, Turkish lawyer and politician, Turkish Minister of Transport 1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania 1956 – Guy Babylon, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2009) 1956 – Blanche Baker, American actress and screenwriter 1956 – Junji Hirata, Japanese wrestler 1956 – Andrew Mackenzie, Scottish geologist and businessman 1957 – Billy Bragg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1957 – Anna Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actress (Epikouri) 1957 – Mike Watt, American singer-songwriter and bass player (Banyan, Minutemen, Dos, The Stooges, and Firehose) 1958 – Doug Nordquist, American high jumper 1958 – James Thomson, American biologist and academic 1959 – George Coupland, Scottish scientist 1959 – Hildegard Körner, German runner 1959 – Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish physicist and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Poland 1959 – Trent Tucker, American basketball player and sportscaster 1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaican-Canadian author and educator 1960 – Kim Ki-duk, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter 1961 – Mohammad Fouad, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actor 1961 – Mike Keneally, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dethklok) 1961 – Freddie Spencer, American motorcycle racer 1963 – Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo 1964 – Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler 1965 – Robert Cavanah, Scottish actor and director 1965 – Rich Gannon, American football player and sportscaster 1966 – Matt Neal, English race car driver 1966 – Veronica Pershina, Russian-American figure skater and coach 1966 – Chris Robinson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Black Crowes, Chris Robinson Brotherhood) 1968 – Joe Cornish, English actor, director, and screenwriter 1968 – Karl Wendlinger, Austrian race car driver 1969 – Alain de Botton, Swiss-English philosopher and author 1969 – Zahra Ouaziz, Moroccan runner 1969 – Bobby Phills, American basketball player (d. 2000) 1970 – Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach 1970 – Alister McRae, Scottish race car driver 1970 – Jörg Schmidt, German footballer 1971 – Roger J. Beaujard, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Mortician and Malignancy) 1972 – Anders Odden, Norwegian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Cadaver, Magenta, Satyricon and Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult) 1972 – Anja Rücker, German sprinter 1973 – Maarja Kangro, Estonian author and poet 1973 – David Nedohin, Canadian curler and sportscaster 1973 – Cory Stillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1974 – Die, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Dir En Grey) 1974 – Paul Linger, English footballer 1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer 1976 – Aubrey Huff, American baseball player and radio host 1976 – Adam Powell, Welsh game designer and businessman, co-founded Meteor Games 1976 – Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch businessman and author 1976 – Nenad Vučković, Croatian footballer 1977 – Kerem Kabadayı, Turkish drummer and songwriter (Mor ve Ötesi) 1978 – Andrei Markov, Russian-Canadian ice hockey player 1978 – Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer 1978 – Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner 1979 – David DeJesus, American baseball player 1979 – Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist 1979 – Ramón Rodríguez, Puerto Rican-American actor and dancer 1980 – Israel Castro, Mexican footballer 1980 – Ashley Cole, English footballer 1980 – Anthony da Silva, French-Portuguese footballer 1980 – Martín Demichelis, Argentinian footballer 1980 – Fitz Hall, English footballer 1981 – Royal Ivey, American basketball player 1981 – Darya Pchelnik, Belarusian hammer thrower 1981 – James Shields, American baseball player 1981 – Roy Williams, American football player 1982 – Mohammad Asif, Pakistani cricketer 1982 – David Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Axium and Midwest Kings) 1982 – Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer 1982 – David Wright, American baseball player 1983 – Jonah Hill, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1983 – Chelsea Johnson, American pole vaulter 1983 – Adrián Varela, Mexican singer 1984 – Nikolaos Karabelas, Greek footballer 1985 – Gilbert Kirwa, Kenyan runner 1987 – Yutaka Otsuka, Japanese baseball player 1988 – Andrés Bottiglieri, Italian–Argentinian footballer 1990 – JoJo, American singer-songwriter and actress 1990 – Filipp Breytveyt, Russian footballer 1991 – Fabian Schär, Swiss footballer 1992 – Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater Deaths 217 – Pope Zephyrinus 860 – Æthelbald of Wessex (b. 834) 1295 – Margaret of Provence (b. 1221) 1355 – Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (b. 1308) 1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506) 1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (b. 1510) 1722 – Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654) 1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (b. 1652) 1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (b. 1675) 1765 – Louis, Dauphin of France (b. 1729) 1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (b. 1692) 1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (b. 1729) 1812 – Sacagawea, American explorer (b. 1788) 1820 – John Bell, American farmer (b. 1750) 1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (b. 1820) 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791) 1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (b. 1797) 1893 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (b. 1840) 1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (b. 1863) 1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (b. 1882) 1920 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (b. 1863) 1921 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (b. 1850) 1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872) 1929 – Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (b. 1838) 1935 – Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1882) 1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865) 1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850) 1938 – Matilda Howell, American archer (b. 1859) 1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian-Estonian poet and author (b. 1887) 1950 – Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1885) 1954 – James Hilton, English-American author and screenwriter (b. 1900) 1956 – Ramón Carrillo, Argentinian neurologist and physician (b. 1906) 1959 – Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1885) 1961 – Moss Hart, American director and playwright (b. 1904) 1961 – Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880) 1968 – John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902) 1971 – Roy O. Disney, American banker and businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1893) 1972 – Adolfo Orsi, Italian businessman (b. 1888) 1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (b. 1904) 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936) 1974 – R. A. Bevan, English advertiser (b. 1901) 1974 – Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (b. 1896) 1974 – André Jolivet, French guitarist and composer (b. 1905) 1976 – Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902) 1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899) 1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1887) 1984 – Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (b. 1933) 1986 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959) 1989 – Kurt Böhme, German actor and singer (b. 1908) 1991 – Simone Beck, French chef and author (b. 1904) 1991 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, singer, and sculptor (b. 1903) 1991 – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942) 1993 – W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (b. 1900) 1993 – Nazife Güran, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1921) 1994 – Dean Rusk, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (b. 1909) 1995 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (b. 1938) 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934) 1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933) 1997 – Denise Levertov, English-American poet and translator (b. 1923) 1997 – Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946) 1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916) 1998 – C. P. Lyons, Canadian historian and author (b. 1915) 1999 – Riccardo Freda, Egyptian-Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1909) 1999 – Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914) 2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906) 2005 – M. Moorthy, Malaysian soldier and mountaineer 2005 – Raoul Bott, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1923) 2006 – Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929) 2006 – Piergiorgio Welby, Italian poet and activist (b. 1945) 2008 – Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932) 2008 – Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (b. 1925) 2008 – Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (b. 1912) 2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977) 2009 – Arnold Stang, American actor (b. 1918) 2010 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920) 2010 – K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (b. 1914) 2011 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (b. 1926) 2012 – Stan Charlton, English footballer and manager (b. 1929) 2012 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (b. 1929) 2012 – Eagle Keys, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1923) 2012 – Jimmy McCracklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1921) 2012 – Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1919) 2013 – Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (b. 1930) 2013 – Lord Infamous, American rapper (Three 6 Mafia) (b. 1973) 2014 – Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Swedish surgeon and academic (b. 1929) 2014 – John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (b. 1915) Holidays and observancesAbolition of Slavery Day, also known as Fête des Cafres (Réunion, French Guiana) Bo Aung Kyaw Day (Myanmar) Christian feast day: Dominic of Silos O Clavis Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne Katharina von Bora (Lutheran) December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Earliest date for Winter solstice's eve (Northern Hemisphere), and its related observances: Yaldā (Iran) International Human Solidarity Day (International) Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Macau) External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to December 20. BBC: On This Day The New York Times: On This Day On This Day in Canada [[Category:Days of the year] Category:December